June 12, 2010 112th Independence Day Celebration @ The Fort
My last road race in Metro Manila was the Century Tuna Half-Marathon on February 21, 2010 which was held at The Fort. However, I was able to finish a 50K Ultramarathon Road Race in Jeju Island, South Korea on March 27, 2010 and since then I stopped joining 10K, 15K and Half-Marathon Races. After the Jeju run, my running workouts were geared towards my preparation for the 34th MILO Marathon Elimination Race on July 4, 2010. As part of my training, I decided to join this Half-Marathon Race in order to break-in my running shoes (ASICS Gel-Tarther) and apparel (ASICS running shorts & singley) for the MILO Marathon. The cheap registration fee and my plan to test my race strategy for the next full marathon were also the reasons why I joined this race.
I am a sucker for running events that celebrate historic events in our country plus its advocacy to end poverty ( the white “ONE” band that I am using on my right wrist is the world’s symbol for the advocacy to “make poverty a history”) which I am trying to adhere to with the small contributions I’ve been doing through my projects like “Donate A Shoe”; “Donate A Shirt”; and my Elite Team Bald Runner. In short, I just wanted a simple road race to assess my training and at the same time celebrate a historic event for the country.
But from the Start of the Race, it showed some signs of “dangers” to come! All the runners (21K, 15K, 10K, & 5K) were mixed together in the coral which means that all the runners shall start at the same time. And it happened. Some group of runners started the race ahead without any command or the sound of a starting gun. Although the race started a few minutes late (5:36 AM), the rest of the runners just simply started running from the starting line without even hearing a countdown from the Emcee!
From the start, I was able to maintain my pace within the 5:15-5:40 minutes per kilometer average pace except at Km 3 & 4 where I was able to register a pace of 4:45 mpk. The race strategy was to be able to finish the first 10K in 55 minutes and slowly picking up the pace on the last 10K of the race and be able to finish the race in slightly above 1:45 hours. However, when I and the other 21K runners reached the 15K mark, we were lost! We tried to ask for assistance from the route marshal but they could not give us the correct directions. There were ignorant of the race route. They just simply told us to proceed to where the runners were going!
That was it! The runners were lost. I was lost, too! I was already out of focus and just simply wanted to finish the race! My companion and I went around the “bigger loop” at The Fort for two times before reaching the Finish Line. My GF 305 registered a distance of 18.2 kilometers!
I got my Finisher’s Medal but I was not proud to wear it. After I changed my wet running apparel, I went nearer to the event stage to find out who is the Race Organizer/Director. I was not surprised to hear from the Emcee that the Race Organizer/Director was Mr Franco Atienza…again? Well, the “usual suspect” is confirmed to be responsible with “fucked-up” race routes in the past road races and the traces of lack of water cups and short length of water aid stations for a thousands of runners were still there despite the complaints from participating runners.
My GF 305 registered a time of 1:35:18 for the distance of 18.2K. It is not a fast time/PR but I know I can be faster if I did not relax and slowed my pace after I was lost. My running shoes and apparel were great and they passed the test. I am confident that they will help me in another successful marathon finish on July 4th.
Race Organizers/Directors who do not learn from their past mistakes and “lapses” should get LOST from conducting races that honor “heroes & patriots” of our country. This road race was supposed to be a “Gathering Of Patriots” not a “gathering of LOST runners”!!!
Bald Runner 
Sorry to hear about that BR. Good for you … you were still able to run a good race inspite of the frustration. Hopefully, these organizers don’t lost a runner due to injuries or sudden death under their watch.
The counting of steps, as posted in one of your blogs, helped me this morning in setting my PR on 5K. Will add the ASICS Gel-Tarther to my shoes closet.
Good luck to your July 4th race.
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arthur, our runners here are used to our hot and humid weather and we are very lucky that we don’t have any severe casualty yet in our road races…i am glad the counting of steps helped you improved your runs. thanks for the visit.
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Right on the dot Sir 18.2kms, the marshals was not even sure if we need to do another loop, but we were so frustrated that we just decided to go back, I hope this won’t justify an increase in the reg fees para gumanda yung patakbo ho hum…
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it’s unfortunate that we were lost during the race! i hope they will improve on the detailed things on their future races.
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This race is a disappointment BR. 3km short for 21km… na kaka sira ng diskarte itong race na ito… Dekorastion lang ang Medal na nakuha natin dito…
Good Luck nalang po sa atin sa July 4 nalang sa Milo…
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ang masama ay maraming finishers na hindi nabigyan ng medals. yes, bawi na lang tayo sa july 4th.
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The same race director again … it really pays to know the race director before signing up for a race. It happened to me twice already in both of his races. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times … ay naku. =)
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it was my gretaest mistake of not knowing the RO/RD before i registered. historical at mababa ang reg fees kaya sumali ako.
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make it mandatory to publish the race organizers name.there are good races out there that have cheap fees and well-organized.
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it was supposed to be a diagnostic test race in prep for the milo marathon but things went differently because of ignorant marshals and changing of route on d-day of the race. very unprofessional.
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I was anticipating that something like this would happen, as the race organizers are relatively new and unheard of. I wasn’t even able to get a medal. They didn’t even have a clue as to what they will do with runners without a medal until several of us asked and they started to get the race bib numbers of runners without medals. But the medal is just a bonus, the water and road marshals is the basic thing that this race needs to improve. And yes, much like you I am a sucker for “historic” races.
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Sir BR. I also just did 2 loops giving me 18km on my forerunner 405 at sub 1:46. Not happy to wear my medal. I am willing to give my medal to those who finished exact 21k who haven’t got one. Back to back 21k training ko sana to(i ran 21k freedom run the next day) for milo.
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I was planning to join this race.i even got a race no. Etc. But my heart was not in it so i decided not to. Buti nalang i did not go. There are only 3 things i expect in a race. 1. Distance of the race should be accurate or a little longer. 2. Adequate water supply especially if the distance is 15k and above. 3. A souvenir from the race. It could be a t-shirt, certificate etc.
I wont comment further anymore because like you we are also race organizers. I just hope they learn from there mistakes and do better next time.
but i do agree with jonel lets make it mandatory that they organizer o race be identified upon announcement of the event
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My problem is that 4 of us who registered were not given singlets as I got a text message 2 days before the race that it’s not yet available, now, the same number is not replying anymore as to when we can get it or baka kalimutan na lang siguro,? Sayang maidonate pa sana …
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Pingback: 2010 Races « Phil 4:13 runner
mas mahirap yung sa part namin. LOST na nga kami pag dating pa sa finishline ubos na daw yung medal. tapos nag txt ngayon pinakukuha yung mga medal sa CIE makati. nakakatamad na tuloy puntahan kasi 18km lang ang tinakbo natin.
ang gulo pa ng start kasi labo labo na. bahala na. hhehee
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naku po, paano yan, hindi po ba ung RACE organizers po ang may hawak ng Milo Marathon this year? baka puro aberya na naman ang mangyari nyan
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nope! iba me hawak ng milo, si biscocho. bagama’t dati tao ni biscocho to, pro di natuto, ibang iba pag si biscocho ang race director.
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